


Embarrassing Moments

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 13:34:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20931056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: Jack catches Alex's stomach flu and gets sick onstage.





	Embarrassing Moments

“That was a good soundcheck, boys. How’re you doing, Alex?” Rian asked, setting down his drumsticks.  
“Pretty good. A bit tired, but I don’t feel like I have the flu anymore,” Alex explained. A few days before, Alex had come down with the stomach flu. They’d had three days off, and Alex spent it bedridden, and trying to keep his insides in his body.  
The one silver lining to it was that he had Jack with him the entire time. Jack watched movies with him, helped him when he got sick, and talked him down when he started to feel really bad for himself. Jack always helped Alex when he was unwell, and it always meant the world to Alex. Just having someone who cared so much was a great feeling, and Alex knew that he was incredibly lucky to have Jack in his life.  
At this point, Alex had a low-grade fever, but he was able to keep stuff down finally, and mostly felt back to normal, which led him to decide that he should be fine to perform that night.  
“That’s good. Hey, I think the crew wanted to grab a bite, right around now,” Zack stated.  
“That sounds good, I definitely want to go. What do you say, Jack?” Alex asked, turning to his best friend.  
“Of course I’m in, when have I ever turned down food?” Jack asked, earning some laughs from his friends. In reality, food was the last thing Jack wanted. That morning, he’d woken up feeling sick. He’d initially shrugged it off, thinking that he was just being paranoid, since Alex had just been sick. But, when these feeling started to progress throughout the day, he realized that he was actually sick, and felt very flu-like. His body was achy and cold, he was exhausted, and his stomach felt uneasy.  
He decided not to tell his band since Alex was still unwell, and he didn’t want Rian and Zack to have to be worried about the both of them. Also, he didn’t want to have to make them cancel their set. The next day would be another off day, so he figured that he could use it to rest up and would hopefully be okay for their next show.  
“Great, I think there’s a Panera a couple minutes away, let’s go there,” Rian suggested. Everyone agreed, then walked out of the back door of the venue. Once they got to the restaurant, they went up to the kiosks and made their selections.  
“Only a cup of soup? Normally you get some big sandwich thing when we come here,” Alex observed, sounding surprised.  
“Yeah, I’m not too hungry, I guess. Also, I thought I’d try something new and switch it up a bit,” Jack justified, swiping his credit card. Alex shrugged it off as they took their pagers and picked out a booth. Not much later, their food came out. Just the sight and smell of everyone else’s food made his stomach turn, and he did his best to ignore the feeling. Once he calmed himself down some, he started to eat his soup. Each bite made his stomach cramp up, but he ate anyway so his friends wouldn’t be suspicious. He ended up being the last to finish his meal, but he was just happy to get it all down. Once they were done, they threw out their trash then went back to the venue.  
“Who’s up for some beer pong? Now that Alex is well, we can finally play again!” Zack exclaimed.  
“Hell yeah, let’s do it!” Alex replied. The food in Jack’s stomach was starting to feel uncomfortable, and he knew that he needed to get to a bathroom, but not let his friends figure it out.  
“Hey, I totally forgot, I told my parents that I was going to call them right about now. I have to go do that, but you guys can go on and play without me,” Jack said, feeling proud of himself for coming up with something believable on the spot.  
“Oh, we can wait for you, it’s no big deal,” Alex replied. Jack’s stomach started to do flips, and he knew this was a bad sign.  
“No, it’s okay. I don’t know how long I’ll be, so just go on and play. Maybe I’ll be back in time to jump in, but seriously, don’t wait for me,” Jack replied, giving what he hoped was a reassuring smile.  
“If you insist, dude. Have a good talk with your parents,” Rian said, as the three of them walked into a green room that conveniently had a ping pong table. Jack didn’t want his bandmates to hear him and get concerned, so he decided to go to a single occupancy bathroom on the other side of the venue that he’d noticed earlier. He walked over to it as fast as he could, holding his stomach. When he got in, he locked the door, and sat in front of the toilet. He really didn’t want to get sick, because he always felt ten times worse whenever he did, so he did everything he could to calm himself down.  
After about twenty minutes, he decided that he was okay, at least for now. His stomach felt uneasy, but he figured that it’d be fine. He felt his forehead and knew that he definitely had a temperature. This didn’t really surprise him, since he’d spent a lot of time with Alex when he was sick, and he knew he would probably get Alex’s stomach flu. After taking a couple of deep breaths, Jack got up and started to walk back to the other side of the venue. He walked into the beer pong room and was immediately hit with the smell of alcohol.  
“Hey man, how was your talk with your parents?” Alex asked his friend.  
“Oh, it was good, they just wanted to update me on how things were at home, nothing major,” Jack replied, sitting on the couch.  
“We go on in like thirty minutes, do you want a drink?” Zack offered.  
“We finished our game already, sorry dude,” Rian added.  
“No worries, I think I’m just going to stick with this water for now,” Jack replied. His band gave him confused looks but didn’t say anything.  
The four of them sat on their phones until they were called to the stage area, five minutes before they were due on. They all grabbed their instruments and strummed them to make sure they were tuned correctly. Jack forgot how heavy his guitar felt when he was sick, it was already making his aches feel worse.  
“Okay, Alex, you’re still technically sick, so don’t push yourself too hard. Have fun, but try to keep that in mind,” Rian explained to his friend.  
“I’ll be fine, you guys. I’ve played feeling much worse than this,” Alex replied.  
“I guess that’s true. You’re definitely doing better now than you were at our last show, since that was the day it hit you,” Zack added. Jack hoped that he’d be able to hold up throughout their whole set. For a split second, he considered telling his band that he had caught what Alex had, but he didn’t want to worry them seconds before going on.  
“Good luck, dude. You’re going to kill it,” Jack told Alex. He knew that Alex always felt a bit insecure the first show after getting over something, he thought he wouldn’t give a good show because of it.  
“Thanks, dude,” Alex replied, smiling some. Seconds later, they were told to go on, so they walked on and took their places. They immediately started their first song as the crowd cheered. Over the course of the night, Jack felt progressively worse. There were a few times that he thought he’d have to run offstage to get sick, but he was able to keep himself together. Right before their encore, they ran offstage to tease the fans.  
“You sound great, Alex!” Rian exclaimed, as the crowd chanted their name in the background.  
“Yeah! How’re you feeling?” Zack asked.  
“Pretty good, actually! I’m definitely ready to rest up for the night after this, but I feel a lot better than I expected to tonight,” Alex explained.  
“Only three more songs,” Jack said, both for him and Alex.  
“Let’s do it!” Alex exclaimed. The four of them started their encore right after coming back to the stage. Jack felt himself get much worse during the first two songs, but he hoped that his body could hold off on getting sick until they were done with their set.  
“Thank you, guys, so much for coming were out. We’re All Time Low, and we’ll see you next time,” Alex said as they started to play Dear Maria. Halfway through the song, Jack felt his stomach start to cramp up badly. He’d taken his guitar off to interact with the fans, and he was very glad that he did. He tried to take some deep breaths to calm himself down some.  
When they got to the bridge, Jack knew that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the end of the song. He tried to walk to the back of the stage, but quickly realized that he wouldn’t even make it there. He was about halfway up the stage when he kneeled, facing Rian’s drum kit and started to get sick. Alex, Rian and Zack all noticed what was happening very quickly, but they kept playing. They all felt confused and concerned, but they had a job to finish, and they didn’t want to freak out the fans. The fans could see what was going on, and they didn’t know how to react.  
The lights went down on where Jack was, and a crew member rushed out to the stage with a bucket. He helped Jack offstage as the other three finished up the song. They told the fans that Jack was fine, just that he’d had too much to drink before going on, even though they didn’t even know what caused him to get sick.  
After thanking the crowd and saying their final goodbyes, they walked offstage, and found Jack sitting in a chair with the bucket.  
“Jack, what the fuck?” Rian asked, sounding confused.  
“What happened out there?” Alex asked, sounding more sympathetic than Rian did.  
“I think I caught Alex’s stomach flu,” Jack replied pathetically.  
“When did you start to feel bad? When we were onstage?” Zack asked.  
“Actually, it was this morning,” Jack replied.  
“And you didn’t tell anyone? That was really stupid, dude,” Rian stated.  
“Can you lecture me when I’m not losing my insides?” Jack groaned.  
“Why don’t you two help the crew out some. I’ll take him to the bus and make sure he’s taken care of,” Alex suggested, trying to ease the tension.  
“Alex, I swear to god, if you get sick again because of this,” Rian started.  
“Dude, chill out. They’ll be fine,” Zack said, trying to talk Rian down some.  
“Fine, I’m sorry, Jack. Feel better, man,” Rian replied. He walked away with Zack, and Alex helped Jack up and to the bus. Alex knew that Jack was probably feeling a bit embarrassed about what had happened, and he couldn’t help but blame himself some, since he was the one who got Jack sick in the fist place. He tried to get out of his head so he could help his friend.  
“Let’s get changed. Go to the back when you’re done, and I’ll get everything that we’ll need,” Alex instructed. The two of them changed, then Jack took blankets and pillows for the both of them to the back lounge and got set up on the couch. Alex went to the kitchen and got waters for both of them, medicine for Jack, and a bucket for if he couldn’t make it to the bathroom in time.  
“Take this, it’ll help your stomach some,” Alex explained, giving Jack the medicine.  
“I’m good,” Jack replied.  
“Dude, just take it. This is the same stuff you’ve been giving me the past few days,” Alex said.  
“I don’t want to throw up again,” Jack said in a small voice.  
“I know, I felt the same way, but it will really help you, so please try. For me?” Alex tried. Jack took a deep breath before downing the medicine.  
“Thanks, dude,” Jack said.  
“Of course, man. Now, why didn’t you tell us you were sick?” Alex asked.  
“I didn’t want you guys to have to worry about me. You’re technically still sick, and I didn’t want Rian and Zack to have to be concerned for me since you still need it. Also, I didn’t want to ruin the show for you by making you feel guilty about getting me sick,” Jack explained.  
“I appreciate that, but tell us next time. And, it’s a little too late for the second thing you said,” Alex replied, trailing off.  
“Don’t feel bad, dude. I don’t want to be sick, but I kind of knew that I’d catch this from you. I spent quite a bit of time with you over the past two days. I don’t regret it, though, I’m just glad you’re starting to feel better. Also, how’re you feeling?” Jack replied, making Alex smile some.  
“I’m feeling pretty worn out, but I’m glad you’re not mad. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me over the past few days, and I guess it’s my turn now to do the same for you,” Alex replied.  
“I’m definitely not mad, dude. I am pretty embarrassed, though. I threw up onstage, dude. Even you haven’t done that. As soon as it started, I felt so embarrassed. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but it was so much that I teared up a bit out of frustration and embarrassment,” Jack said, his face turning a bit red.  
“I’m so sorry, dude. For what it’s worth, the fans were genuinely concerned about you. I would’ve been embarrassed, too, but I don’t think the fans thought what you did about everything. They just wanted you to be okay,” Alex explained.  
“I guess that helps some, I feel a bit better. Mentally, of course. Physically, I feel absolutely terrible. I definitely have your stomach flu. I’m achy and cold, I feel beat, and my stomach is fucked,” Jack replied.  
“Yeah, it’s a pretty awful flu. Hopefully you’ll feel better from it before I did, I hate seeing you so upset and miserable,” Alex said back.  
“Yeah, I hope so. At least I’ve got you to take care of me and keep me company. That’ll definitely make it a little better,” Jack said, making both of them smile some.  
“Hey, I’m feeling pretty worn down since I’m still sick. Maybe we can put on a movie and fall asleep to it? Maybe Home Alone, just for you?” Alex suggested.  
“That sounds good to me,” Jack replied. Alex turned out the light and put on the movie. He let Jack snuggle into him, since they both had some chills. Not even twenty minutes into the movie, they were both fast asleep, and felt incredibly lucky to have the other in their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This story was a request from an anon on Tumblr! It was the first request I've ever written, and it was fun! It reminded me that people actually read my work, and also why I spend about four hours on all of my stories that I share, from just an idea in my head to written in my notebook, then typed, edited and posted. I hope you guys liked this, and please send in requests if you have them! Expect lots of new stories to come! Lots of love, Liv.


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